A concern that arises in preparing brewed beverages, such as coffee or tea, is the effect that impurities in the water used in brewing can have on the taste and smell of the resulting beverage. In addition, impurities in the water also raise health concerns. To reduce any such concerns, an automatic drip coffee maker or the like can be provided with a water filter device, such as a device comprising activated carbon or charcoal, to remove impurities from the brewing water before the brewing process. For example, a coffee maker typically comprises a water reservoir which holds water to be used to brew coffee, and an activated carbon water filter device can be provided in the flow path of water traveling from the reservoir to coffee grounds held in a brew basket, thereby removing impurities from the water before it reaches the brew basket. Alternatively, an activated carbon water filter could be placed directly within the water reservoir to draw impurities out of the water before it reaches the brew basket. In any case, the relatively small size of a typical household coffee maker requires the water filter device to be relatively small in size, thereby limiting the useful life of the water filter device to a relatively small number of brewing cycles. Thus, the activated carbon water filter device must be replaced regularly to provide consistent filtering of impurities from the water, which requires a user to keep track of how many brewing cycles have been completed since the water filter device was last replaced.